Vacuum defoaming kettle for production of high molecular thickening agent

Abstract

This invention relates to a vacuum degassing reactor for the production of polymer thickeners, belonging to the field of polymer chemical machinery. It includes a reactor body, a reactor lid, a drive unit, a central conveying assembly, a peripheral scraping assembly, and a vacuum pumping assembly. The bottom end of the stationary conveying cylinder of the central conveying assembly is fixed with a bottom support having a wedge-shaped cross-section that narrows towards the flow and an inclined upper surface. The central drive shaft inside has continuous spiral blades, and the top end is fixed with a double-layered conical film-spreading disc with internal curved guide ribs. The sleeve of the peripheral scraping assembly encloses a reduction gear set consisting of a sun gear and planetary gears, and is connected to a scraping frame with a fixed flexible scraper. The double-layered disc centrifugally tears the polymer fluid into a uniform film for forced and efficient degassing. Sudden expansion deceleration and labyrinth inertial collisions block boiling droplets, achieving in-situ droplet capture and gravity-fed reflux, thus improving the stability of the system's mass production processing.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the field of polymer chemical machinery, specifically, it relates to a vacuum degassing kettle for the production of polymer thickeners. Background Technology

[0002] During polymerization and stirring, polymer thickeners easily trap numerous tiny air bubbles within the fluid. Due to the significant non-Newtonian fluid characteristics and extremely high apparent viscosity of these materials, conventional vacuum degassing reactors exhibit several drawbacks in practical applications. First, the immense microscopic resistance within high-viscosity fluids makes it difficult for deep bubbles to migrate upwards using buoyancy. Conventional mechanical stirring often fails to achieve uniform, thin-layer spreading of the material within the reactor, resulting in severely insufficient overall degassing uniformity. Second, high-viscosity fluids easily establish adhesion tension on solid walls, causing a large amount of material to adhere directly to the reactor's inner wall. This not only reduces the reactor's axial heat transfer efficiency but is also extremely difficult to clean during shutdowns or batch changes. Third, under vacuum negative pressure, the fluid surface is affected by the rapid expansion and boiling of bubbles, generating a large amount of fine droplets. These high-viscosity droplets are easily dragged by the vertically rising suction airflow, and are thus drawn back into the negative pressure pipeline during the degassing process, causing significant raw material waste and vacuum system contamination. Summary of the Invention

[0003] This invention mainly addresses the technical problems encountered during the vacuum degassing process of high-viscosity polymer thickeners, such as high circulation resistance in the dead zone at the bottom of the vessel, insufficient uniformity of thin-film spreading inside the vessel, easy drying and accumulation of material in the boundary layer of the vessel wall, and easy escape of fluid droplets by the viscous entrainment of the pumping gas during ultimate vacuum negative pressure boiling.

[0004] The objective of this invention can be achieved through the following technical solutions: A vacuum degassing reactor for the production of polymeric thickeners includes a reactor body, a reactor lid covering the top of the reactor body, and a driving device fixed to the top of the reactor lid; it also includes: A central conveying assembly is vertically installed inside the vessel body. The top end of the central conveying assembly is connected to the power output end of the driving device. The central conveying assembly includes a stationary conveying cylinder fixed inside the vessel body and a rotating pusher that passes through the stationary conveying cylinder. A double-layer conical film spreading disc is fixed to the top end of the rotating pusher. The peripheral scraping assembly includes a sleeve coaxially sleeved on the outside of the central conveying assembly, and a scraping frame fixed to the outer wall of the sleeve and extending downward to fit the inner wall of the vessel. A vacuum pumping assembly is disposed on the top of the vessel lid. The vacuum pumping assembly includes a vacuum tube that penetrates the vessel lid and a labyrinth-type gas-liquid separation hood installed at the bottom end of the vacuum tube and extending into the vessel body.

[0005] Furthermore, the exterior of the vessel body is provided with an opening and closing mechanism, which includes a first support, a first driving cylinder, and a lifting mechanism. The fixed end of the lifting mechanism is vertically installed on the outer wall of the vessel body, and the output end of the lifting mechanism is fixedly connected to the bottom of the first support. One end of the first support is fixedly connected to the top of the vessel lid, and the other end is slidably connected to the axis of the outer surface of the vessel body through a limiting groove. The two ends of the first driving cylinder are respectively hinged to the first support and the vessel lid.

[0006] Furthermore, the power output end of the drive device is connected to the top of the central conveying component via a hexagonal male-female coupling. The male end of the hexagonal male-female coupling has an inwardly tapered guide surface chamfer at its top edge, and the female end of the hexagonal male-female coupling has an outwardly expanding trumpet-shaped flare at its bottom end.

[0007] Furthermore, the rotating pusher includes a central drive shaft and continuous spiral blades disposed on the outer surface of the central drive shaft, and the edge of the central opening of the double-layer conical film spreading disc is sleeved on the outer side of the top opening of the stationary conveying cylinder; the double-layer conical film spreading disc is composed of an upper conical disc and a lower conical disc that are parallel to each other, and the inner circumference of the double-layer conical film spreading disc is provided with a plurality of curved guide ribs extending along the slope of the lower disc surface.

[0008] Furthermore, the peripheral scraping assembly also includes a first support frame fixed to the inner wall of the vessel, the sleeve is sleeved on the outside of the central drive shaft, and the outer wall of the sleeve is rotatably connected to the first support frame through a bearing; the sleeve is provided with a reduction gear set inside.

[0009] Furthermore, it also includes a second support frame, one end of which is rotatably connected to the central drive shaft via a bearing, and the other end of which is fixed to the first support frame.

[0010] Furthermore, the scraper includes a vertical connecting rod extending downward along the inner wall surface of the vessel, and a flexible scraper fixed to the end of the vertical connecting rod and in contact with the inner wall surface of the vessel.

[0011] Furthermore, the bottom end of the stationary conveying cylinder is circumferentially fixed with multiple bottom supports, which are anchored to the bottom inner wall of the vessel body. The cross-section of the bottom support is a wedge-shaped blade structure that gradually narrows on both sides in the direction of the flow, and the upper surface of the bottom support is a guide surface that is inclined towards the bottom feed port of the stationary conveying cylinder.

[0012] Furthermore, the labyrinth-type gas-liquid separator includes a conical horn cover with a flared bottom, and a straight pipe section connected above the conical horn cover and communicating with the lower end of the vacuum tube. The interior of the straight pipe section is fixed with multiple arc-shaped flow-blocking baffles in a staggered manner along the vertical direction.

[0013] Furthermore, the surface morphology of the arc-shaped baffle is a contoured curved surface structure that smoothly transitions from one side to the other, and the upper surface of the arc-shaped baffle has a drainage angle from the center towards the pipe wall.

[0014] The beneficial effects of this invention are: 1. This invention utilizes a bottom support with a wedge-shaped blade structure that is fixed circumferentially at the bottom of a stationary conveying cylinder, with a cross-section that gradually narrows towards the flow direction. This design aligns with the rheological properties of shear thinning of polymer thickeners. When the peripheral fluid impacts the sharp-angled blade edge, the extremely small contact area causes a sudden surge in the local fluid shear rate, forcing a sharp drop in the apparent viscosity of the fluid on both sides of the blade edge, thus creating a low-resistance fluid lubrication channel. Simultaneously, the smooth, tapering wedge-shaped sides eliminate boundary layer separation caused by fluid detaching from the wall, preventing the generation of a low-pressure wake vortex dead zone behind the support, allowing high-viscosity materials to flow smoothly. Furthermore, the downward-sloping guide surface on the upper surface generates a physical reaction force, converting the chaotic rotational kinetic energy into an axial thrust pointing towards the feed inlet. This transforms the resistance component into a passive feeding slide, significantly reducing the pumping load on the continuous spiral blades in the suction section and eliminating the risk of material stagnation, dead bed formation, and crusting at the bottom.

[0015] 2. This invention utilizes a reduction gear set composed of a sun gear, planet gears, and a planet carrier on the central drive shaft to achieve concentric split drive of high-speed axial lifting of the central drive shaft and low-speed, high-torque sweeping of the outer wall scraper of the sleeve under single-source power. After the high-speed upward-rushing material enters the double-layer conical spreading disc 19, it is forced by the curved guide ribs to centrifugally spread and tear into a uniform continuous film, maximizing the gas phase contact surface area and drastically shortening the bubble migration path, thus improving the degassing uniformity. At the same time, a double-point rigid constraint support system with a vertical span is constructed in the axial height through the first and second support frames, which converts the lateral bending moment into radial forces in opposite directions at the two support points, shortens the free overhang length of the long axis and restricts radial swing, thereby stably maintaining a self-cleaning gap of 0.5 mm to 1.0 mm between the outer diameter of the blade and the inner wall of the cylinder. With the low-speed rotation of the vertical connecting rod with a flexible scraper, the pre-tightening force and deformation compensation mechanism generated by the elastic deformation of the material itself are used to adapt to the roundness tolerance of the inner wall of the vessel, peel off the boundary layer stagnant fluid, and solve the heat transfer failure and black spot contamination caused by the drying of polymer materials on the wall.

[0016] 3. This invention features a labyrinthine gas-liquid separation hood consisting of a conical horn cover and a straight pipe section suspended at the bottom of the vacuum tube. When the entrained droplet gas flow generated by negative pressure boiling rushes in, the enlarged flare at the bottom of the conical horn cover causes a sudden expansion of the cross-sectional area of ​​the flow channel, resulting in a steady decrease in gas velocity. Based on the principle of fluid resistance, the upward axial drag force exerted by the gas flow on the droplets decreases with the square of the flow velocity, achieving primary gravity sedimentation of large-diameter droplets. The small droplets that are not removed enter the straight pipe section and are forced to make frequent sharp turns in the face of the staggered arc-shaped flow-blocking baffles. The low inertia of the gas phase molecules allows them to escape by following the streamline curves, while the heavy polymer droplets, due to their high inertia, detach from the main gas flow and collide with the contoured curved surface on the lower surface of the baffle. Because the curved surface smoothly transitions from one side to the other, it can smoothly dissipate the impact force, prevent secondary breakage of droplets, and promote the fusion of droplets to form a fluid film. In the backflow zone, the fluid uses the drainage angle of the upper surface to flow directionally to the inner wall of the straight pipe section. Under the protection of the low-speed boundary layer on the pipe wall, it overcomes the airflow friction resistance and flows back into the vessel body along the wall surface. This fundamentally blocks the passage of high-viscosity fluid into the exhaust pipe, ensuring the cleanliness and long-term continuous steady-state operation of the negative pressure system with zero power consumption. Attached Figure Description

[0017] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the accompanying drawings used in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0018] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention; Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the hexagonal male and female coupling structure of the present invention; Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of the stationary conveying cylinder, the rotating pusher, and the structure of the rotating pusher of the present invention; Figure 4 For the present invention Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the structure after partial removal of the upper and middle conical disks and the lower conical disk; Figure 5 For the present invention Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the separation state of the upper and middle conical disk and the rotating pusher; Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the distribution of curved guide ribs in the lower conical disk of the present invention, viewed from above. Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the bottom support structure of the present invention; Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the labyrinth-type gas-liquid separation hood structure of the present invention; Figure 9 For the present invention Figure 8 Schematic diagram of the distribution of arc-shaped flow-blocking baffles after partial removal of the conical horn cover; Figure 10 For the present invention Figure 9 A schematic diagram of the subjective planar structure; Figure 11 For the present invention Figure 1 Enlarged structural diagram of region A in the middle; Figure 12 This is a schematic diagram of the reduction gear set structure of the present invention.

[0019] The attached diagram lists the components represented by each number as follows: 1-Cafe body; 2-Cafe lid; 3-Drive device; 4-Opening and closing mechanism; 5-First support; 6-First drive cylinder; 7-Lifting mechanism; 8-Limiting groove; 9-Hexagonal male and female coupling; 10-Male head; 11-Chamfered conical guide surface; 12-Female sleeve; 13-Flare mouth; 14-Central conveying assembly; 15-Stationary conveying cylinder; 16-Rotating pusher; 17-Central drive shaft; 18-Continuous spiral blades; 19-Double-layer conical film spreading disc; 20-Upper conical disc ; 21-Lower conical disk; 22-Curved guide rib; 23-Bottom support; 24-Outer scraping assembly; 25-Sleeve; 26-Scraper frame; 27-First support frame; 28-Arc-shaped baffle; 29-Reduction gear set; 30-Vacuum pumping assembly; 31-Maze-type gas-liquid separation hood; 32-Conical horn cover; 33-Straight pipe section; 34-Vertical connecting rod; 35-Flexible scraper; 36-Second support frame; 30-Sun gear; 31-Planetary gear; 32-Planetary carrier. Detailed Implementation

[0020] The technical solutions of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, and not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0021] Example 1 A vacuum degassing reactor for the production of polymer thickeners includes a reactor body 1, a reactor lid 2 covering the top of the reactor body 1, and a driving device 3 fixed to the top of the reactor lid 2; it also includes a central conveying assembly 14, vertically disposed inside the reactor body 1, the top end of the central conveying assembly 14 being drively connected to the power output end of the driving device 3, and the central conveying assembly 14 including a stationary conveying cylinder 15 fixed inside the reactor body 1 and a rotating pusher 16 passing through the stationary conveying cylinder 15. The top of the rotating pusher 16 is fixed with a double-layer conical film spreading plate 19; the peripheral scraping assembly 24 includes a sleeve 25 coaxially sleeved on the outside of the central conveying assembly 14, and a scraping frame 26 fixed to the outer wall of the sleeve 25 and extending downward to fit the inner wall of the vessel body 1; the vacuum pumping assembly 30 is disposed on the top of the vessel cover 2, and the vacuum pumping assembly 30 includes a vacuum tube penetrating the vessel cover 2, and a labyrinth-type gas-liquid separation hood 31 installed at the bottom end of the vacuum tube and extending into the interior of the vessel body 1.

[0022] The rotating pusher 16 includes a central drive shaft 17 and continuous spiral blades 18 disposed on the outer surface of the central drive shaft 17. The edge of the central opening of the double-layer conical film spreading disc 19 is sleeved on the outer side of the top opening of the stationary conveying cylinder 15. The double-layer conical film spreading disc 19 includes an upper conical disc 20 and a lower conical disc 21 that are parallel to each other. The inner circumference of the double-layer conical film spreading disc 19 is provided with a plurality of curved guide ribs 22 that extend along the slope of the lower conical disc 21.

[0023] The bottom end of the stationary conveying cylinder 15 is circumferentially fixed with multiple bottom supports 23. The bottom supports 23 are anchored to the bottom inner wall of the vessel body 1. The cross-section of the bottom supports 23 is a wedge-shaped blade structure that gradually narrows on both sides in the direction of the flow. The upper surface of the bottom supports 23 is a guide surface that is inclined towards the bottom feed port of the stationary conveying cylinder 15.

[0024] The vacuum degassing kettle for polymer thickeners provided in this embodiment constructs a closed-loop degassing circuit for the material through bottom pushing circulation, conveying, and double-layer film spreading. In specific processing and mechanical assembly, such as... Figure 1 and Figure 7As shown, three bottom supports 23 are first symmetrically fixed circumferentially on the inner wall of the conical bottom surface of the cylindrical vessel 1 by welding. The bottom end of the stationary conveying cylinder 15 is axially and vertically aligned with the geometric center line of the vessel 1 and rigidly connected to the inner ends of the three bottom supports 23. In order to reduce the pumping resistance of the material at the bottom and reduce the dead zone, the cross-section of the bottom support 23 is a wedge-shaped blade structure that gradually narrows on both sides towards the flow direction. Its upper surface is machined into a guide surface that slopes downward towards the bottom inlet of the stationary conveying cylinder 15 to cut and guide the material into the bottom of the conveying cylinder. The specific principle is that the cross-section of the bottom support 23 is set as a wedge-shaped blade structure that gradually narrows on both sides towards the flow direction, and its upper surface is machined into a guide surface that slopes downward towards the bottom inlet of the stationary conveying cylinder 15. This geometric boundary feature, when facing the polymer thickener fluid, achieves the technical effect of reducing the bottom pumping resistance and reducing the dead zone by reducing the stagnation pressure, shear thinning, and reducing boundary layer separation. First, due to the shear-thinning non-Newtonian fluid characteristics of polymeric thickeners, their apparent viscosity decreases with increasing shear rate. When square or round tube supports face rotating and propelled materials, a stagnation point with reduced flow velocity is generated on the frontal surface, leading to increased frontal resistance and causing localized material agglomeration. In this design, the frontal surface of the bottom support 23 is wedge-shaped, which reduces the contact area when the fluid is driven by the outer wall scraping component and impacts the blade edge, thereby increasing the local fluid shear rate at the contact interface. This shear stress causes a local shear-thinning effect in the fluid, reducing the apparent viscosity of the fluid within the range on both sides of the blade edge. This creates a low-resistance fluid lubrication channel for the continuous sliding of subsequent fluids and can physically split and break up large gel agglomerates, preventing material bridging and jamming at the inlet. Second, when the fluid flows around the support structure, boundary layer separation, where the fluid detaches from the wall, is easily triggered on the back side due to changes in geometric boundaries, resulting in a low-pressure wake vortex dead zone behind the support. The eddies behind the supporting structure cause a decrease in flow velocity, making the thickener prone to dehydration, crusting, drying, and deterioration under vacuum suction negative pressure. In contrast, the bottom support 23 described in this solution employs a smooth, gradually narrowing wedge design on both sides, constructing a streamlined drag-reducing flow channel. This allows the fluid, split by the front blade edge, to adhere to the outer wall surface of the support during its flow, until it converges and re-merges into a laminar flow field at the tail end. This reduces boundary layer separation and low-pressure eddy dead zones on the back flow side, allowing for continuous material passage. Finally, in the flow field at the bottom of the reactor, the material simultaneously possesses horizontal rotational kinetic energy driven by the outer scraper 26, a downward tendency to sink due to gravity after degassing from above, and an upward suction force generated by the negative pressure generated by the rotating pusher 16 inside the stationary conveying cylinder 15. If the upper surface of the support is horizontal, it easily supports the settling material above, forming a stagnant bed.This design processes the upper surface of the bottom support 23 into a guide surface that slopes downward toward the bottom inlet of the stationary conveying cylinder 15, forming a fluid guiding slope. When the settling material above presses against it or the rotating fluid flows over it, the inclined guide surface can generate a reaction force, converting the horizontal rotational kinetic energy and gravitational potential energy of the material into an axial thrust pointing toward the inlet of the stationary conveying cylinder 15. This achieves the conversion and directional guidance of the material's kinetic energy, shares and reduces the axial pumping load of the continuous spiral blades 18 inside the stationary conveying cylinder 15 in the suction section, and ensures the smooth suction and circulation of the bottom material.

[0025] Inside the stationary conveyor cylinder 15, such as Figure 3 As shown, the central drive shaft 17 of the rotating pusher 16 is vertically inserted from top to bottom. The outer surface of the central drive shaft 17 is provided with continuous spiral blades 18, and the outer diameter of the continuous spiral blades 18 maintains a non-contact gap of 0.5 mm to 1.0 mm with the cylindrical inner wall of the stationary conveying cylinder 15. In order to limit the axial runout of the central drive shaft 17 and maintain the stability of the gap when bearing high viscosity shear resistance, a first support frame 27 is horizontally fixed on the upper part of the inner wall of the vessel body 1. The sleeve 25 of the peripheral scraping assembly 24 is sleeved on the outside of the central drive shaft 17, and the outer wall of the sleeve 25 is rotatably connected to the central hole wall of the first support frame 27 through a first bearing 28. Inside the cavity of sleeve 25, a sun gear 30 is machined on the outer wall of the corresponding shaft segment of the central drive shaft 17. Multiple planet gears 31 are arranged in a ring around the sun gear 30 and maintain transmission meshing with it. The multiple planet gears 31 are rotatably connected by a planet carrier 32, which is bolted to the inner wall of the sleeve 25. A gear ring 33, used to provide static reaction torque, is fixedly connected to the static inner wall of the first support frame 27, thus forming a concentric dual-speed split-flow drive architecture. Above the first support frame 27, a second support frame 34 is connected via a connecting rod. The second support frame 34 has a second bearing 35 embedded within it, and its inner ring rotates with the outer circumferential surface of the shaft segment of the central drive shaft 17, restricting the radial swing freedom of the top end of the central drive shaft 17. The central drive shaft 17 passes downward through the second support frame 34 and the first support frame 27, extending downward to the shaft segment where the top opening of the static conveying cylinder 15 is located. A double-layer conical film spreading disc 19 is fixed here by a flat key and a locking nut. (See [reference]) Figure 4 and Figure 5The double-layer conical film spreading disc 19 is composed of an upper conical disc 20 and a lower conical disc 21 that are parallel to each other. Both the upper and lower conical discs have a conical slope with a high geometric center and a low outer edge. The top opening edge of the stationary conveying cylinder 15 is axially lower than the upper conical disc 20 but higher than the bottom surface of the lower conical disc 21. The edge of the central opening of the lower conical disc 21 extends downwards and fits over the outer side of the top opening of the stationary conveying cylinder 15, forming a non-contact dynamic-static labyrinthine sleeve overlap structure to maintain a sealing effect while preventing fluid backflow downwards. In the inner ring region of the interlayer between the upper conical disc 20 and the lower conical disc 21, such as... Figure 4 and Figure 6 As shown, multiple curved guide ribs 22 are distributed circumferentially, extending along the slope of the lower plate towards the edge. The cross-section of the curved guide ribs 22 gradually transitions from the inside to the outside. In the peripheral scraping assembly 24, the sleeve 25 receives decelerated power under the drive of the planetary carrier 32. The bottom end of the sleeve 25 is fixed with an outwardly extending scraping frame 26, which extends vertically downward and makes the flexible scraper 39 adhere to the cylindrical inner wall surface of the vessel body 1. The vessel lid 2 covers the top of the vessel body 1 and supports the driving device 3. The power output end of the driving device 3 is connected to the top end of the central drive shaft 17. The vacuum tube 41 of the vacuum pumping assembly 40 passes through the vessel lid 2 and has a labyrinth-type gas-liquid separation hood 42 at the bottom. In operation, the drive unit 3 is activated and supplies power to the central drive shaft 17. The central drive shaft 17 drives the continuous spiral blades 18 to rotate inside the stationary conveying cylinder 15. The material at the bottom of the vessel is broken and guided into the bottom suction port of the stationary conveying cylinder 15 by the blade-shaped wedge-shaped inclined surface of the bottom support 23. The continuous spiral blades 18 generate fluid shear stress on the thickener in the gap, and the material rises axially. At the same time, the rotation of the central drive shaft 17 is converted into the rotational motion of the sleeve 25 and the scraper 26 through the deceleration action of the sun gear 30, planet gear 31 and planet carrier 32. The material flowing upward from the top opening of the stationary conveying cylinder 15 crosses the cylinder opening boundary and flows into the interlayer of the rotating double-layer conical film spreading disk 19. It is centrifugally spread and thinned into a continuous film by the curved guide ribs 22. The vacuum tube 41 and the labyrinth gas-liquid separation hood 42 are used to evacuate the film to remove air bubbles. After degassing, the material falls along the outer perimeter of the spreading plate and the inner wall of the vessel 1. It is then scraped off by the flexible scraper 39 on the rotating scraper frame 26 and pushed back to the bottom of the vessel. The material then passes through the wedge-shaped flow breaking and gathering of the bottom support 23 at the bottom of the vessel and re-enters the interior of the stationary conveying cylinder 15, completing the closed-loop circulation of the degassed material.

[0026] Further details regarding the working principle: The technical principle behind the vacuum degassing kettle's solution to insufficient degassing uniformity and the difficulty in cleaning materials that easily stick to the walls lies in integrating the central conveying system with the peripheral dynamic wall scraping system, thereby achieving shear thinning and thin-layer diffusion of the material in its flow pattern. When the drive device 3 inputs power, the central drive shaft 17 and the continuous spiral blades 18 rotate inside the stationary conveying cylinder 15, applying an axial lifting force to the polymer thickener using physical boundary constraints. During this process, the 0.5 mm to 1.0 mm gap maintained between the outer diameter of the continuous spiral blades 18 and the inner wall of the stationary conveying cylinder 15 causes the material flowing through this area to generate a fluid shear rate, thereby causing the polymer fluid to undergo a non-Newtonian shear thinning effect, reducing the apparent viscosity of the material, and preventing the material from sticking and adhering inside the stationary conveying cylinder 15. The rising material reaches the top opening of the stationary conveying cylinder 15 and crosses the cylinder opening boundary, then enters the interlayer of the double-layer conical film spreading disk 19, which rotates synchronously with the central drive shaft 17. Under the centrifugal thrust of multiple circumferentially distributed curved guide ribs 22, the high-viscosity material is forcibly spread and stretched into a thin film along the slope of the lower disk surface towards the edge. This film shape increases the surface area of ​​the defoamed material, shortens the migration path of bubbles inside the material to overflow, and facilitates the rupture and removal of microbubbles in a vacuum environment, thereby improving the overall uniformity of defoaming. At the same time, through the reduction structure composed of the sun gear 30, planet gear 31, and planet carrier 32, the original high-speed power is reduced and the torque is increased and transmitted to the outer sleeve 25, which in turn drives the flexible scraper 39 on the scraper frame 26 to elastically adhere to the cylindrical inner wall surface of the vessel body 1 to perform rotational sweeping. Material sliding down the outer periphery of the double-layer conical spreading plate 19 and falling along the inner wall of the vessel body 1 is dynamically scraped off and pushed downward by the flexible scraper 39 the moment it contacts the surface of the vessel wall. This disrupts the conditions for the polymer fluid to establish adhesion tension on the surface of the vessel wall and prevents the material from sticking to the wall and drying.

[0027] See Figure 8 and Figure 9The technical principle behind the vacuum degassing vessel's solution to the problem of material being easily carried away by the airflow during vacuum degassing, resulting in waste, lies in utilizing a fluid dynamic barrier combining a sudden expansion of the channel cross-sectional area to reduce velocity and a labyrinthine inertial collision to achieve in-situ separation and gravity-reconstructed reflux of the gas and liquid phases. When the vacuum tube 41 draws gas from the vessel, the airflow carrying high-viscosity droplets and aerosols first enters the conical horn cover 43 at the bottom of the vacuum pumping assembly 40. Due to the significant expansion of the channel cross-sectional area, the velocity of the airflow entering it decreases, weakening the airflow's ability to lift and entrain heavy droplets upwards. Subsequently, the airflow enters the straight pipe section 44, where multiple arc-shaped baffles 45, fixed vertically, alter the linear motion of the airflow. The airflow must make continuous sharp turns to bypass the baffles, forming a curved escape path and ultimately being discharged by the vacuum tube 41. Meanwhile, the high-molecular-weight thickener droplets entrained in the airflow, due to their large mass and inertia, cannot follow the airflow to make rapid turns, and thus directly impact the surface of the arc-shaped baffles 45 under inertia. After impact, the tiny droplets gather into larger droplets on the contoured curved surface structure of the baffle, which smoothly transitions from one side to the other. These droplets then flow naturally along the drainage angle provided on the upper surface of the arc-shaped baffle 45 from the center towards the pipe wall, towards the inner wall of the straight pipe section 44. Finally, under the action of gravity, they overcome the frictional resistance of the decelerating airflow and drip freely back into the vessel body 1. This blocks the physical channel for high-viscosity fluid to enter the vacuum pipeline, reducing material loss and contamination of the negative pressure pipeline.

[0028] Example 2 The vessel body 1 is provided with an opening and closing mechanism 4 on its exterior. The opening and closing mechanism 4 includes a first support 5, a first driving cylinder 6, and a lifting mechanism 7. The fixed end of the lifting mechanism 7 is vertically installed on the outer wall of the vessel body 1. The output end of the lifting mechanism 7 is fixedly connected to the bottom of the first support 5. One end of the first support 5 is rotatably connected to the top of the vessel cover 2, and the other end is slidably connected to the axis of the outer surface of the vessel body 1 through a limiting groove 8. The two ends of the first driving cylinder 6 are respectively hinged to the first support 5 and the vessel cover 2. The power output end of the driving device 3 is connected to the top end of the central conveying assembly 14 through a hexagonal male and female coupling 9. The top edge of the male head 10 of the hexagonal male and female coupling 9 is provided with an inwardly tapered guide surface chamfer 11, and the bottom end of the female sleeve 12 of the hexagonal male and female coupling 9 is provided with an outwardly expanding trumpet-shaped flared opening 13.

[0029] The polymer thickener vacuum degassing kettle provided in this embodiment utilizes a combined dual-track motion of vertical lifting and angular rotation, coupled with a hexagonal transmission clutch structure with self-centering guidance, to achieve spatial interference avoidance and automatic power disengagement during the kettle lid opening and closing process. In the specific structural layout and assembly relationship, such as... Figure 1As shown, the fixed end of the lifting mechanism 7 is vertically installed on the outer wall of the vessel body 1, and the power output end of the lifting mechanism 7 faces vertically upward and is fixedly connected to the bottom of the first bracket 5. One end of the first bracket 5 extends to the top of the vessel cover 2 and is rotatably connected to the top of the vessel cover 2 via a pin. The other end of the first bracket 5 is provided with a roller assembly, which is engaged in a vertical limiting groove 8 opened on the outer surface of the vessel body 1, so that the first bracket 5 can slide vertically up and down along the axial direction of the vessel body 1. The tail of the cylinder of the first drive cylinder 6 is hinged to the first bracket 5, and the top of the piston rod of the first drive cylinder 6 is hinged to the top edge of the vessel cover 2. The drive device 3 is fixed to the top of the vessel cover 2, and the power output end of the drive device 3 passes downward through the vessel cover 2 and extends into the interior of the vessel body 1. The end of the power output end is connected to the female sleeve 12 of a hexagonal male-female coupling via a transmission key. See Figure 2 The bottom opening of the female sleeve 12 is provided with an outwardly expanding trumpet-shaped flare 13, and a radial floating fit clearance is left between the female sleeve 12 and the power output end of the drive device 3. Correspondingly, the top of the central drive shaft 17 located inside the vessel body 1 is provided with a hexagonal male head 10, and the top edge of the hexagonal male head 10 is provided with an inwardly tapered guide surface chamfer 11. When the vessel lid 2 is closed, the hexagonal male head 10 extends into the female sleeve 12. It should be noted that a conventional elastic sealing ring is provided between the contact surface of the vessel lid 2 and the vessel body 1 to maintain the negative pressure environment inside the vessel. The retaining structure and static sealing mechanism of this elastic sealing ring are conventional and well-known technologies in the field and are not the focus of improvement of this solution, and will not be described in detail here.

[0030] When a traditional flip-top kettle is opened, the power shaft fixed to the lid has a certain axial overhang within the kettle body. If the kettle is directly rotated and flipped, the end of the shaft will overlap with the upper edge of the kettle body or internal stationary components, causing structural jamming and mechanical damage. Simultaneously, unilateral angular deflection can easily cause localized compression and friction on the sealing ring at the kettle opening, leading to deformation. This solution alters the opening trajectory of the lid 2 through the step-by-step cooperation of the lifting mechanism 7 and the first drive cylinder 6. During the opening process, the lifting mechanism 7 first drives the first support 5 and the lid 2 to move linearly upwards along the vertical limiting groove 8, causing the power output end of the drive device 3 and the female sleeve 12 to vertically disengage from the central drive shaft 17 and the hexagonal male head 10 in the axial direction. This purely axial linear disengagement allows the contact surface at the bottom of the lid 2 to smoothly separate from the sealing ring at the kettle opening, avoiding lateral shear stress. When the axial lifting distance exceeds the axial overhang length of the power shaft, causing the transmission power to be disconnected, the piston rod of the first drive cylinder 6 retracts. With the rotational connecting pin between the first bracket 5 and the top of the lid 2 as the geometric center, the lid 2 is driven to flip and deflect upward relative to the first bracket 5, thus avoiding contact between the power shaft assembly and the inner wall of the vessel body 1 in space, leaving space for cleaning and maintenance of the internal components.

[0031] When the vessel lid 2 is closed with high-viscosity materials, radial eccentricity can easily occur between the power output shaft of the drive device 3 and the shaft of the central drive shaft 17. If a rigid, flush connection is used, end-face jamming may occur. This solution uses a hexagonal male-female coupling with a guide slope to address this problem. When the lifting mechanism 7 drives the vessel lid 2 to reset and close, if there is radial eccentricity between the female sleeve 12 and the hexagonal male head 10, the chamfer 11 of the tapered guide surface of the hexagonal male head 10 will first contact the flared opening 13 of the female sleeve 12. The downward axial gravitational force decomposes into a radial correction force at the inclined slide contact interface. This force overcomes resistance and pushes the female sleeve 12, which has the radial floating fit clearance, to undergo self-aligning radial displacement, causing their shafts to tend to coincide and preventing the axial eccentricity force of the power shaft from being transmitted laterally to the vessel lid 2. As the fitting depth increases, the edges of the hexagonal male connector 10 slide into the hexagonal cavity of the female connector 12 along the tapered inner wall of the flared opening 13, completing the blind insertion transmission. The hexagonal multifaceted contact structure transforms power transmission into multifaceted force contact, dispersing local shear stress and bearing the torque resistance of the polymer thickener during initial stirring. The entire mechanism achieves this through the mechanical coordination of the vertical linear displacement of the lifting mechanism, the angular rotational displacement of the drive cylinder, and the guiding force of the inclined plane of the coupling.

[0032] Example 3 The peripheral scraping assembly 24 further includes a first support frame 27 fixed to the inner wall of the vessel body 1. The sleeve 25 is sleeved on the outside of the central drive shaft 17, and the outer wall of the sleeve 25 is rotatably connected to the first support frame 27 through a first bearing. The sleeve 25 is provided with a reduction gear set 29. The shaft section of the central drive shaft 17 located inside the sleeve 25 is provided with a sun gear. The reduction gear set 29 includes planet gears meshing with the sun gear. The planet gears are fixedly connected to the inner wall of the sleeve 25 through a planet carrier. The gear ring of the reduction gear set 29 is fixedly connected to the first support frame 27. It also includes a second support frame 36. One end of the second support frame 36 is rotatably connected to the central drive shaft 17 through a second bearing, and the other end of the second support frame 36 is fixed to the first support frame 27. The reduction gear set 29 is surrounded by a closed mounting shell, and a mechanical seal is provided at the joint between the sleeve 25 and the closed mounting shell.

[0033] Figure 11-12 As shown, the polymer thickener vacuum degassing vessel provided in this embodiment achieves differentiated dual-speed output under single-source power input through a concentrically arranged planetary split-flow transmission structure and a dual-span rigid support architecture, while maintaining the operational stability of the rotating pair under high negative pressure. In a spatial assembly structure, as... Figure 1 and Figure 3As shown, the first support frame 27 is horizontally fixed to the upper part of the inner wall of the vessel body 1. A closed mounting shell 36 covers the outer periphery of the reduction gear set 29, and the bottom end of the closed mounting shell 36 is rigidly fixed to the upper surface of the first support frame 27. The sleeve 25 of the peripheral scraping assembly 24 is coaxially sleeved on the outside of the central drive shaft 17. The upper end of the sleeve 25 extends vertically upward into the internal cavity of the closed mounting shell 36, and the outer wall of the sleeve 25 is rotatably connected to the first support frame 27 and the bottom center hole wall of the closed mounting shell 36 via the first bearing 28, achieving radial positioning of the sleeve 25 by the first support frame 27. A sun gear 30 is integrated into the outer wall of the shaft section of the central drive shaft 17 located inside the closed mounting shell 36. Multiple planetary gears 31 of the reduction gear set 29 are coaxially distributed around the center and mesh with the external gear of the sun gear 30. The multiple planetary gears 31 are rotated and connected to the planet carrier 32, and the bottom end of the planet carrier 32 is fixedly connected to the top edge of the sleeve 25 extending into the shell by bolts. The outer gear ring 33 of the reduction gear set 29 is rigidly fixed to the inner wall of the enclosed mounting housing 36, providing a fixed counter-torque reference for the transmission system through the enclosed mounting housing 36 and the first support frame 27. A second support frame 34 is provided directly above the first support frame 27. A second bearing 35 is embedded in one end of the second support frame 34, and the inner ring of the second bearing 35 rotates with the outer circumferential surface of the high-speed shaft section of the central drive shaft 17. The other end of the second support frame 34 extends downward and is rigidly locked to the upper surface of the first support frame 27. Simultaneously, a third bearing 50 is embedded between the inner wall of the sleeve 25 and the central drive shaft 17, forming a two-span radial linkage constraint chain between the central drive shaft 17, the sleeve 25, and the first support frame 27. A mechanical seal is embedded at the movable mating surface where the sleeve 25 rotates out of the enclosed mounting housing 36, creating a relatively independent sealed cavity inside the enclosed mounting housing 36.

[0034] In operation, the drive and support system eliminates deformation interference caused by material resistance to mechanical components and blocks gas-liquid phase flow through the mechanical transmission and rigid constraints of internal kinematic pairs. When the high-speed rotational power provided by the main drive unit is input to the central drive shaft 17, the central drive shaft 17 directly drives the sun gear 30 to rotate at the initial input speed. Since the gear ring 33 is fixed on the closed mounting shell 36 and remains stationary, according to the differential principle of planetary gear transmission, the planet gear 31 meshing with the sun gear 30 revolves along the internal teeth of the stationary gear ring 33 while rotating on its own axis. The revolving motion of the planet gear 31 drives the planet carrier 32 to rotate at reduced speed. The planet carrier 32 outputs the reduced power to the sleeve 25 through its fixed relationship with the top of the sleeve 25. Thus, the high-speed rotation of the central drive shaft 17 is converted into low-speed, high-torque rotation of the sleeve 25 and the external scraper 26, realizing the concentric split drive of the internal high-speed material pushing and the external low-speed scraping by a single power source. During this process, when the internal helical blades lift the high-viscosity polymer thickener, the flow resistance of the material generates a reaction force on the central drive shaft 17. This reaction force is converted into an axial bending moment and causes radial deflection of the shaft outward. This design uses the second bearing 35 of the upper second support frame 34 to constrain the top section of the central drive shaft 17, and then uses the third bearing 50 and the first bearing 28 located below to transfer the load of the lower section of the central drive shaft 17 to the first support frame 27, thus constructing a double-point rigid constraint support system with a vertical span in the axial height. According to the principle of force on a simply supported beam in mechanics of materials, the lateral bending moment borne by the central drive shaft 17 is converted into radial support forces in opposite directions at the two bearing support points, shortening the free overhang length of the drive shaft and limiting the radial sway of the central drive shaft 17 caused by external forces within a set tolerance range, thereby maintaining the micro-gap between the outer diameter of the helical blades and the inner wall of the stationary conveying cylinder. Furthermore, during vacuum evacuation, the interior of vessel 1 is under negative pressure, while the cavity of reduction gear set 29 contains atmospheric pressure lubricating medium, resulting in a significant pressure gradient between the two locations. This solution encloses the transmission core in a sealed mounting shell 36 and utilizes the contact between the dynamic and static ring end faces of the mechanical seal to establish a continuous surface contact dynamic sealing barrier between the rotating sleeve 25 and the stationary shell. The resistance of the microscopic liquid layer between the contact surfaces balances the vacuum pressure difference on both sides, preventing the vacuum environment inside the vessel from drawing out the lubricating medium from the gearbox and contaminating the polymer materials. It also blocks fluid vapor from entering the gear chamber, ensuring the operational stability of the equipment in high-viscosity processing scenarios.

[0035] Example 4 The scraper frame 26 includes a vertical connecting rod 34 extending downward along the inner wall surface of the vessel body 1, and a flexible scraper 35 fixed to the end of the vertical connecting rod 34 and in contact with the inner wall surface of the vessel body 1.

[0036] The high-polymer thickener vacuum degassing kettle provided in this embodiment utilizes the combination of a low-speed external scraping frame and flexible contact edges to slow down the adhesion and accumulation of high-viscosity materials on the inner wall of the kettle. In the specific structural layout and assembly relationship, such as... Figure 1 As shown, the sleeve 25 extends below the first support frame 27, and the scraper frame 26 is rigidly fixed to the bottom end of the sleeve 25. The scraper frame 26 includes a vertical connecting rod 38 extending downward along the inner wall surface of the vessel body 1. The lower end of the vertical connecting rod 38 bends and tilts along the conical surface at the bottom of the vessel body 1, so that its geometric outer contour matches the inner contour of the vessel body 1. A flexible scraper 39 is fixed to the outer edge of the vertical connecting rod 38 facing the inner wall of the vessel body. The flexible scraper 39 is made of polytetrafluoroethylene material or wear-resistant elastic rubber plate and is fixed to the end of the vertical connecting rod 38 by metal pressure strips and fastening bolts. In the assembled state, the blade of the flexible scraper 39 adheres to the inner wall surface of the vessel body 1 by the pre-tightening force generated by the elastic deformation of the material itself.

[0037] The principle behind the collaborative operation of the scraper frame 26 and the flexible scraper 39 to solve the problems of material adhesion and cleaning lies in using mechanical shear boundaries to break the fluid adhesion balance and using elastic tracking to overcome geometric tolerances. When the sleeve 25 rotates at a low speed under the drive of the planetary carrier 32, it drives the scraper frame 26 to perform a circumferential sweeping motion along the inner circumference of the vessel body 1. High-viscosity polymer thickener fluids easily form a fluid boundary layer with low flow velocity on static solid walls, causing material retention and dehydration and drying under vacuum negative pressure. When the flexible scraper 39 rotates along with the vertical connecting rod 38 against the inner wall of the vessel body 1, its flexible edge with a certain rigidity establishes a mechanical shear boundary between the retained fluid layer and the steel vessel wall. This mechanical peeling action breaks the interfacial adhesion tension between the polymer and the metal substrate before the material solidifies, allowing the high-viscosity fluid to detach from the vessel wall surface. The downward extension of the vertical connecting rod 38 ensures that the scraping trajectory covers the entire height of the column section and the bottom cone section of the vessel body 1. Meanwhile, due to the roundness tolerances and radial runout of the main shaft system present during the manufacturing process of the vessel body 1, the rotational gap between the inner wall of the vessel body 1 and the vertical connecting rod 38 exhibits local fluctuations in the circumferential direction. If a rigid scraper is used, unremoved material residue is easily left where the gap widens, while mechanical jamming occurs where the gap narrows. This solution provides a deformation compensation mechanism through the material elasticity of the flexible scraper 39. When rotating to the microscopic protrusion area where the gap narrows, the flexible scraper 39 undergoes local elastic bending deformation under the pressure of the wall surface, absorbing displacement deviations. When rotating to the concave area where the gap widens, the elastic restoring force inside the material pushes the blade to expand outward, maintaining continuous contact with the inner wall surface of the vessel body 1. Finally, the material dynamically scraped off by the flexible scraper 39 slides down the inner wall of the vessel body 1 under gravity to the bottom feeding area, re-entering the conveying circuit, thereby reducing fluid loss caused by dry residue and reducing the difficulty of subsequent equipment cleaning.

[0038] Example 5 The labyrinth-type gas-liquid separator 31 includes a conical horn cover 32 with a flared bottom, and a straight pipe section 33 connected above the conical horn cover 32 and communicating with the lower end of the vacuum tube. Multiple arc-shaped flow-blocking baffles 28 are vertically and interlaced inside the straight pipe section 33. According to claim 9, a vacuum degassing reactor for producing polymer thickeners is characterized in that the surface morphology of the arc-shaped flow-blocking baffle 28 is a contoured curved surface structure that smoothly transitions from one side to the other, and the upper surface of the arc-shaped flow-blocking baffle 28 has a drainage angle from the center towards the pipe wall.

[0039] The vacuum degassing vessel for polymer thickeners provided in this embodiment constructs a two-stage physical property separation barrier between the gas and liquid phases to address the problem of fluid entrainment during vacuum degassing caused by violent boiling and bubble bursting. This barrier solves the problems of fluid entrainment, blockage of negative pressure pipelines, and material loss caused by violent boiling and bubble bursting during vacuum degassing. The entire vacuum exhaust and labyrinth-type anti-entrainment and defoaming system is formed by the combination of the vacuum tube 41 at the top of the vessel lid 2 and the labyrinth-type gas-liquid separation hood 42 suspended inside the vessel. By changing the cross-sectional area of ​​the mixed gas flow channel to control the flow velocity, and by reconstructing the airflow streamline through multiple bends, the system utilizes the physical differences in mass and inertia between the gas and liquid phases to achieve inertial collision sedimentation, surface tension trapping, and self-flowing reflux circulation of droplets. This maintains the set negative pressure environment inside the vessel while preventing high-viscosity polymer components from crossing the boundary and entering the exhaust pipeline.

[0040] In the specific spatial structure arrangement and component coordination mechanism, the vacuum tube 41 is vertically fixed through the top edge area of ​​the vessel lid 2, with its upper end connected to the vacuum pump system outside the vessel and its lower end extending into the upper gas phase space inside the vessel body 1. A labyrinth-type gas-liquid separation hood 42 is coaxially connected to the bottom end of the vacuum tube 41. The labyrinth-type gas-liquid separation hood 42 is composed of a conical horn cover 43 and a straight pipe section 44 connected from bottom to top. The bottom opening of the conical horn cover 43 is flared towards the liquid surface of the material at the bottom of the vessel, and its cross-sectional area gradually narrows smoothly from bottom to top. The top end of the conical horn cover 43 is smoothly connected to the bottom end of the straight pipe section 44, and the top end of the straight pipe section 44 is connected to the internal channel of the vacuum tube 41. Inside the hollow flow channel of the straight pipe section 44, multiple arc-shaped flow-blocking baffles 45 are staggered and fixed along the vertical height direction. These arc-shaped flow-blocking baffles 45 are horizontally fixed on the opposite inner wall surfaces of the straight pipe section 44, forming partially overlapping staggered labyrinth gaps in the vertical projection direction. The surface morphology of each arc-shaped flow-blocking baffle 45 has specific geometric irregularities. Its lower surface facing the downward mixing airflow presents a contoured curved surface structure that smoothly bends from one side horizontally to the other side, while the upper surface of the arc-shaped flow-blocking baffle 45 facing the upward exhaust direction has a downward sloping drainage angle from the central axis of the straight pipe section towards the outer pipe wall.

[0041] When the vacuum pump system draws air from the inside of the vessel 1 through the vacuum tube 41 to establish the negative pressure environment required for degassing, the high-viscosity polymer thickener, due to the rapid expansion of tiny bubbles entrained within it under low pressure, will cause boiling and the collapse of rows of bubbles on the fluid surface. The shear force of the bubble collapse will tear the polymer material and atomize it into heavy droplets and sprays of varying particle sizes. These sprays disperse in the gas phase space and are dragged along the upward airflow by the viscous drag force, moving towards the exhaust port. When the mixed airflow containing thickener sprays enters the bottom flare of the conical horn cover 43, since the cross-sectional area of ​​the flow channel at this point is much larger than that of the straight pipe section 44 above and the vacuum tube 41, according to the principle of fluid continuity, the fluid velocity is inversely proportional to the cross-sectional area of ​​the channel, and the vertical upward velocity of the airflow decreases at the flare. As the airflow velocity decreases, according to the principle of fluid resistance, the upward axial drag force exerted by the airflow on the droplets decreases smoothly with the square of the flow velocity. This causes some heavy polymer droplets with larger particle sizes and their own weight to be greater than the drag force of the airflow to be unable to continue to rise with the airflow. Under the action of gravity, they directly settle back into the interior of the vessel 1, realizing the primary velocity-stage gravity settling of the gas-liquid mixture.

[0042] Tiny droplets and droplets that could not be removed by gravity settling continued to rise with the airflow and flow into the straight pipe section 44. Due to the staggered arrangement of multiple arc-shaped baffles 45 along the vertical height direction, the originally vertically upward flow channel was divided and reconstructed into a curved, zigzag flow channel. As the airflow passed through the gaps between the arc-shaped baffles 45, it was forced to frequently change direction, forming a highly curved airflow streamline within the straight pipe section 44. During this high-speed, sharp turn, the gaseous components, with their small molecular mass and low inertia, could closely follow the boundary of the zigzag flow channel, changing direction and maintaining escape motion. However, the polymer thickener droplets suspended in the airflow, due to their high density and mass far exceeding that of the gaseous molecules, had greater inertia. When the airflow streamline underwent a violent deflection, the droplets' trajectories could not follow the synchronous curvature of the gaseous streamline, but instead tended to maintain their original inertial direction of motion. This deviation in the motion of the gas and liquid phases causes the droplets to detach directly from the main airflow and collide at high speed with the lower surface of the arc-shaped flow-blocking baffle 45 on the front side of its trajectory, establishing an inertial collision interception through kinetic energy consumption.

[0043] When droplets impact the lower surface of the arc-shaped flow-blocking baffle 45 on the flow-facing side, the surface's shape—a contoured curved surface that smoothly transitions from horizontal to rounded—allows for the smoothness of the impact contact surface to distribute the normal impact force of the fluid. This prevents the high-viscosity fluid from undergoing secondary breakage or splashing due to rigid impact, thus contributing to the stable dissipation of fluid energy. Upon contact with this contoured curved surface, the high-viscosity polymer fluid rapidly extends and captures subsequent impacting micro-droplets on the curved surface, utilizing the wettability of the solid surface and the cohesive force of the polymer itself. As the number of captured droplets accumulates, the micro-droplets fuse and coalesce to form a continuous fluid film. Driven by the combined forces of gravity and the friction of the surrounding airflow, the film smoothly creeps to the side and upward along the smoothly transitioned curved surface, bypassing the edge of the baffle and converging on the upper surface of the arc-shaped flow-blocking baffle 45.

[0044] Upon entering the upper surface of the arc-shaped baffle 45, the accumulated fluid is located in the backflow zone of the exhaust flow, reducing the disturbance from the rising airflow. At this point, due to the downward-sloping drainage angle on the upper surface of the arc-shaped baffle 45 from the center towards the pipe wall, the fluid, driven by its own gravity along the inclined plane, overcomes the viscous resistance with the baffle surface and flows directionally along this drainage angle, eventually converging on the vertical inner wall surface of the straight pipe section 44. Because the high-viscosity polymer thickener has adhesion to the metal wall, the fluid that converges to the pipe wall forms a downward-adhering flow film on the pipe wall. This fluid film, under the influence of gravity, flows downwards along the inner wall of the straight pipe section 44, passing through the smooth connection between the straight pipe section 44 and the conical horn cover 43, and continues to slide down along the gradually expanding inner wall surface of the conical horn cover 43. As the opening diameter of the conical horn cover 43 gradually increases from top to bottom, the downstream fluid film is guided to a low-velocity peripheral region away from the high-velocity airflow core during its axial downward movement. Finally, the fluid film moves to the outermost edge of the bottom flare of the conical horn cover 43 and detaches from the metal boundary as large-diameter droplets, steadily falling back into the vessel body 1 by gravity, thus completing the material recycling.

[0045] In the description of this specification, the references to terms such as "an embodiment," "example," "specific example," etc., indicate that a specific feature, structure, material, or characteristic described in connection with that embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the present invention. In this specification, the illustrative expressions of the above terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments or examples.

[0046] The above description is merely an example and illustration of the concept of the present invention. Those skilled in the art can make various modifications or additions to the specific embodiments described or use similar methods to replace them, as long as they do not deviate from the concept of the invention or exceed the scope defined in the claims, they should all fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A vacuum degassing reactor for the production of polymeric thickeners, comprising a reactor body (1), a reactor lid (2) covering the top of the reactor body (1), and a driving device (3) fixed to the top of the reactor lid (2); characterized in that, Also includes: A central conveying assembly (14) is vertically disposed inside the vessel body (1). The top end of the central conveying assembly (14) is connected to the power output end of the driving device (3). The central conveying assembly (14) includes a stationary conveying cylinder (15) fixed inside the vessel body (1) and a rotating pusher (16) passing through the stationary conveying cylinder (15). A double-layer conical film spreading plate (19) is fixed at the top end of the rotating pusher (16). The peripheral scraping assembly (24) includes a sleeve (25) coaxially sleeved on the outside of the central conveying assembly (14), and a scraping frame (26) fixed to the outer wall of the sleeve (25) and extending downward to fit the inner wall of the vessel body (1). A vacuum pumping assembly (30) is disposed on the top of the vessel cover (2). The vacuum pumping assembly (30) includes a vacuum tube that penetrates the vessel cover (2) and a labyrinth-type gas-liquid separation hood (31) installed at the bottom end of the vacuum tube and extending into the vessel body (1).

2. The vacuum degassing reactor for producing polymeric thickeners according to claim 1, characterized in that, The vessel body (1) is provided with an opening and closing mechanism (4) on its exterior. The opening and closing mechanism (4) includes a first support (5), a first driving cylinder (6), and a lifting mechanism (7). The fixed end of the lifting mechanism (7) is vertically installed on the outer wall of the vessel body (1). The output end of the lifting mechanism (7) is fixedly connected to the bottom of the first support (5). One end of the first support (5) is fixedly connected to the top of the vessel cover (2), and the other end is slidably connected to the axis of the outer surface of the vessel body (1) through a limiting groove (8). The two ends of the first driving cylinder (6) are respectively hinged to the first support (5) and the vessel cover (2).

3. The vacuum degassing reactor for the production of polymeric thickeners according to claim 1, characterized in that, The power output end of the drive device (3) is connected to the top end of the central conveying assembly (14) via a hexagonal male and female coupling (9). The top edge of the male head (10) of the hexagonal male and female coupling (9) is provided with an inwardly tapered guide surface chamfer (11), and the bottom end of the female sleeve (12) of the hexagonal male and female coupling (9) is provided with an outwardly expanding trumpet-shaped flare (13).

4. The vacuum degassing reactor for the production of polymeric thickeners according to claim 1, characterized in that, The rotating pusher (16) includes a central drive shaft (17) and continuous spiral blades (18) disposed on the outer surface of the central drive shaft (17). The edge of the central opening of the double-layer conical film spreading disc (19) is sleeved on the outside of the top opening of the stationary conveying cylinder (15). The double-layer conical film spreading disc (19) is composed of an upper conical disc (20) and a lower conical disc (21) that are parallel to each other. The inner circumference of the double-layer conical film spreading disc (19) is distributed with a plurality of curved guide ribs (22) that extend along the slope of the lower disc surface.

5. A vacuum degassing reactor for the production of polymeric thickeners according to claim 4, characterized in that, The peripheral scraping assembly (24) also includes a first support frame (27) fixed to the inner wall of the vessel body (1), the sleeve (25) is sleeved on the outside of the central drive shaft (17), and the outer wall of the sleeve (25) is rotatably connected to the first support frame (27) through a bearing; the sleeve (25) is provided with a reduction gear set (29).

6. A vacuum degassing reactor for the production of polymeric thickeners according to claim 5, characterized in that, It also includes a second support frame (36), one end of which is rotatably connected to the central drive shaft (17) via a bearing, and the other end of which is fixed to the first support frame (27).

7. A vacuum degassing reactor for the production of polymeric thickeners according to claim 1, characterized in that, The scraper (26) includes a vertical connecting rod (34) extending downward along the inner wall surface of the vessel body (1), and a flexible scraper (35) fixed to the end of the vertical connecting rod (34) and in contact with the inner wall surface of the vessel body (1).

8. A vacuum degassing reactor for the production of polymeric thickeners according to claim 1, characterized in that, The bottom end of the stationary conveying cylinder (15) is circumferentially fixed with multiple bottom supports (23). The bottom supports (23) are anchored to the bottom inner wall of the vessel body (1). The cross-section of the bottom support (23) is a wedge-shaped blade structure that gradually narrows on both sides in the direction of the flow. The upper surface of the bottom support (23) is a guide surface that is inclined towards the bottom feed port of the stationary conveying cylinder (15).

9. A vacuum degassing reactor for the production of polymeric thickeners according to claim 1, characterized in that, The labyrinth-type gas-liquid separator (31) includes a conical horn cover (32) with a flared bottom, and a straight pipe section (33) connected above the conical horn cover (32) and communicating with the lower end of the vacuum tube. The interior of the straight pipe section (33) is fixed with multiple arc-shaped flow-blocking baffles (28) in a staggered manner along the vertical direction.

10. A vacuum degassing reactor for the production of polymeric thickeners according to claim 9, characterized in that, The surface morphology of the arc-shaped baffle (28) is a contoured curved surface structure that smoothly transitions from one side to the other, and the upper surface of the arc-shaped baffle (28) is provided with a drainage angle from the center to the pipe wall.

Images